From The Ground Up
John Berens John Berens

From The Ground Up

Happy Earth Day everyone! To celebrate, I am continuing this week’s trend of Making Things Complicated with more layers, a homemade tincture (using otherwise discarded fennel fronds), and citrus peels that were going bad (garnish). The drink is shot in my garden and if you have the space, I highly encourage you to plant something if you don’t already.

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Blue & Brewed
John Berens John Berens

Blue & Brewed

If you’ve never had blueberry-flavored coffee, let me tell you, you’re missing out. I realize it sounds like an unusual flavor pairing but it works out beautifully. As with any good flavor combo, why not make it into a cocktail??

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Clean & Bright
John Berens John Berens

Clean & Bright

As I’ve pointed out before, I don’t have too many vodka-forward cocktails on my page, but they can be really nice when some warmer weather rolls around. I really like the crisp, refreshing, crushable feel of a citrus-forward, fruity vodka sour. Here’s one that I definitely recommend, even if you don’t take the completely-unnecessary-but-awesome step of layering.

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Jaisalmer Gin Tasting
John Berens John Berens

Jaisalmer Gin Tasting

As some of you may have seen in my stories last week, I will be a Brand Advocate for @jaisalmergin over the next few months! I am really excited, not only because it’s a great gin, but because tasting gins from around the world brings me great joy. A gin like Jaisalmer brings botanicals local to its origin (seven, in fact, from India along with four from outside the country) and gives a glimpse into the culinary soul of the area. Given my love of cooking, this connection is partly why I find it so fun. I’ll be bringing some awesome recipes and recurring features starting soon! But first, let’s start with some tasting notes.

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Smile & Blush
John Berens John Berens

Smile & Blush

Some of you may have seen Green With Envy, a sad-faced drink I posted on Valentine’s Day. It seemed only right to balance the Mood of my page with a happier face. While this face isn’t an accurate depiction of mine (I go much lighter on the makeup😉), this drink was delicious and definitely made me smile.

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Plant Lovin’
John Berens John Berens

Plant Lovin’

We are in Full Spring Mode here in Texas, so this is a drink to celebrate. Or commiserate, if you are one of the many unfortunate souls whose nasal passages can’t tolerate the insane amount of neon yellow/green pollen that is being constantly dispersed into the air. This drink is an ode (?dirge) to the life cycle of the plants responsible for our collective sneezing.

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Vespermania
John Berens John Berens

Vespermania

This sounds a bit like a bunch of cocktail nerds got out of hand and held a WWF-style brawl. Don't lie, you would totally watch that, wouldn't you? What I actually have for you today, as with many of my drinks, is something born out of curiousity and availability. What was available: a LOT of barrel-aged (pink) vesper (check out my post from 1/5/22 for details). It turns out that when you barrel-age a cocktail, you get... (checks notes) a barrel FULL of cocktail. As someone who infrequently makes the same drink more than a couple times, that is a *lot* of vesper.

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Riggs and Murtaugh
John Berens John Berens

Riggs and Murtaugh

I am on a mission to convince you that rhum and tequila are a really, really good pair. They complement each other better than partners in a buddy cop movie (Lethal Weapon anyone?). They’re as natural as PB&J. You get the idea. Recently I brought this dynamic duo starred in a stirred, martini-esque format. If that’s not your style, then how about a fruit-forward sour?

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Rose Colored Glasses
John Berens John Berens

Rose Colored Glasses

First of all, happy National Cocktail Day to all my fellow drinkstagrammers and cocktail enthusiasts! I would be remiss if I didn’t post today, of all days, a cocktail (with a bonus mocktail version!) to celebrate. Today I have a very pink drink quite literally served in rose colored glasses, but hopefully you won’t have to wear yours to see what makes this drink delicious [Dad joke alert🤓].

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Hophead
John Berens John Berens

Hophead

Before becoming a cocktail nerd, I was a beer nerd. I know, shocker. I still enjoy beer, especially a really hoppy IPA. I tried @leopoldbros Fernet (as part of my R&D for @homebarawards finals— congrats @denisgor!), and my initial impression was…that is was very bitter. I don’t say that very often, but I also don’t back down from a spirit that seems challenging at first impression.

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